The Central Applications Office (CAO) ( ga, An LárOifig Iontrála) is the organisation responsible for overseeing

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

applications to colleges and universities in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. The primary mission of the Central Applications Office is to centrally process applications in a fair and efficient manner. The colleges and universities delegate the administration of admissions to the Central Applications Office; colleges and universities retain full control of admissions. The

Postgraduate Applications Centre {{primary sources, date=May 2008 Postgraduate Applications Centre (PAC) is an organisation that processes applications for large number of postgraduate courses in the Republic of Ireland. Institutions which currently accept applications through P ...

is a related organisation that oversees some taught

postgraduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

courses.

History

The ''Central Applications Office'' was founded in January 1976 based in Galway, with nine colleges and universities participating initially. The first students processed through the system commenced courses in 1978. The ''Central Admissions Service'' (CAS) was introduced independently by the

Dublin Institute of Technology Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT, ga, Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Bhaile Átha Cliath) was a major third-level institution in Dublin, Ireland. On 1 January 2019 DIT was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the Technological Un ...

and the

Regional Technical Colleges An Institute of Technology (IT) is a type of higher education college found in Ireland. There are a total of fourteen colleges that use the title of Institute of Technology, which were created from the late 1960s and were formerly known as Region ...

, both of whom were outside the initial Central Applications Office. Commencing in the 1991 intake the Central Applications Office and Central Admissions Service decided to combine their admissions procedures so that students would have to complete only one joint application form for both systems - the ''CAO/CAS''. The common points scale came into operation the next year, with the best six results from one sitting of the Leaving Certificate becoming the standard; previous to that there had been some allowance to accumulate points by sitting the Leaving Certificate more than once. Also the combined system was taken as an opportunity to reduce non-standard applications such as interviews for selection and portfolios of work - and overall to simplify the applications process. Eventually the CAS was subsumed into the CAO.

Background

Students applying for admission to third level education courses in Ireland apply to the CAO rather than to individual educational institutions such as

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

s and

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. The CAO then offers places to students who meet the minimum requirements for a course for which they have applied. If for a particular course there are more qualified applicants than available places, the CAO makes offers to those applicants with the highest score in the CAO points system. If students do not accepts offers, or later decline them because they receive an offer for another course, the CAO makes further offers until all of the places have been filled or until the offer season closes.

Outside the points system

The points system is designed for young people leaving

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

. Many institutions reserve places in some courses for

older adults Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...

, people from disadvantaged backgrounds, or other groups unlikely to achieve a place through the points system. Applications for most of these are routed through the CAO, but processed manually by the individual institutions rather than automatically via the points system.

The points system

The CAO awards points to students based on their achievements in the

Leaving Certificate A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certifica ...

examination. A student's points are calculated according to these tables, counting their best six subjects only (resulting in a maximum score of 625 points since 2012 with the introduction of the extra 25 points awarded to those who sit the honours mathematics exam and pass). If a student has sat the Leaving Certificate examination on more than one occasion, their points are calculated according to their best year's performance. Students' points are used as a queuing system for over-subscribed courses, with the available places offered to those students ranked highest by the points scale. Points can also be scored for results in other examinations, such as UK

A levels The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

. A level points for Universities, associated colleges and DIT are scored on the basis of the best four A levels or three A levels and an AS level in a different subject from the same or preceding year. From 2016 CAO point allocation for these exams is: A* (180), A (150), B (130), C (100), D (65) and E (45) for the first 3 A-Levels and A* (60), A (50), B (45), C (35), D (20) and E (15) for a fourth A Level. If using an AS Level as the fourth subject points are allocated as follows: A (30), B (25), C (20), D (15) and E (10) In the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme, students may obtain a Distinction (66 points), Merit (46 points), or Pass (28 points) that can be used as well as their 6 best subjects.

References

External links